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Osprey is 40 years young! I fondly recall the moment I selected “Osprey” for the new company, way back in 1974. At that time this beautiful bird was an endangered species and I thought, if that bird can survive the next few tough years, so can this new company! Like the bird, Osprey Packs has flourished since then, and continues to grow and multiply. Over all these years, we at Osprey have had the pleasure to meet and work with some of the finest, warmest people involved in this wonderful, friendly industry. We are indebted to all of you out there who have supported Osprey along the way, through thick and thin, and have made the last 40 years so fun and rewarding!

-Mike Pfotenhauer, Osprey Packs founder and Head Designer

Since 1974, when Osprey Packs was founded by Mike Pfotenhauer in the front of his rented house in Santa Cruz, California, our mission has been to create innovative high performance gear that reflects our love of adventure and our devotion to the outdoors. We’re so honored to be commemorating the 40th anniversary of Osprey Packs — thank you for 40 incredible years!

To celebrate, we’re giving away 40 Limited Edition bags over 40 days in celebration of our past, our present & our future. Enter to win #Osprey1974 by submitting a photo showing us where you’ve gone with Osprey: your favorite day hike, a long summer weekend backpacking, or satisfying your wanderlust abroad. One Grand Prize winner will win the Osprey pack of their choice!

Below are the winning photos from of Round 1 of the #Osprey1974 photo contest! Each winner will receive a 40th Anniversary Limited Edition Transporter 40 bag.

Have you entered #Osprey1974 yet? Join us in celebrating 40 years of Osprey Packs by sharing a photo of your adventures with Osprey! We’re thrilled to celebrate 4 decades of adventures with you and to give away 40 bags over 40 days.

After winter finally showed its snowy face through most of February and March, a weather-window opened and we were eager to take advantage of it. It would be my first time up Mt. Baker in March, (although my 20th time summiting Baker and Andy’s 21st time) so I was keen to make the trip happen.

When we launched our #OspreyAt40 photo contest earlier this year, we knew we’d see some amazing photos of your many adventures, travels and treks — but we were blown away by the number of phenomenal photos submitted by so many loyal Osprey fans. Thank you for sharing your memories with us — we’re honored to have been part of your hikes, backpacking trips, MTB rides, snow days, city walks, summits, sojourns and every other adventure you’ve had with an Osprey Pack on your back.

We’re going to continue to celebrate our 40th Anniversary throughout the year — so please stay tuned for other fun contests and prizes. In May, we’ll be premiering the full-length documentary “Osprey Packs: 40 Years in the Making.” In the meantime, below are the final winners selected by our internal judges for Round 4 of #OspreyAt40. (Or visit our gallery of all of the 40 winning #OspreyAt40 photos here.)

Thank you again for sharing your photos with us and for celebrating our 40th Anniversary!

Joe Stock is a mountain guide and photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska.

Dreams of Brown Moose is a classic early-season ice climb in the Portage Valley near Anchorage. This 500-foot, Water Ice IV route has the ingredients of a proper Alaska adventure with a bushwacking approach, dodgy thin ice, overflowing water and deathly avalanche terrain. I went with Sam Johnson, a life-long Alaska climber, artist and Ph.D candidate to give it a shot.

It was with a heavy heart that I left the U.S. for Europe in mid-March, but the trip turned out to be distracting and healing. I was surrounded by good people, tons of inspiration and much positive perspective upon arrival to Annecy, France. It was a necessary transition to achieve a better balance after the last few months’ tragic events in the ski community. As the tough news continues, I mourn for those we have lost and pray for those who are still fighting, and am trying hard to find the guiding light through it all, turning to the mountains and to friends to appreciate what the present offers.

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Mid-March, our Salomon Freeski Mountain Collective team gathered in Annecy and La Clusaz for a spring session of gear development, talks and testing. Cheese dominated our evenings and skiing dominated our days. We were stuffed through with Raclette, Tartiflette, Fondue and more. We discussed and tested hard goods, soft goods and accessories on slope and in conference rooms. And we enjoyed exploring the magic of the stunning beauty and terrain at La Clusaz resort and its backcountry. I found myself moved daily by the talent of the people with whom I was surrounded… some of the best in skiing and, more importantly, some of the very best people.Read more…

Bike enthusiasts and photographers Stan Engelbrecht & Nic Grobler spent two years traveling in and around South Africa — capturing portraits of people and their beloved bikes along the way. The culmination of their project is a book, Bicycle Portraits, divided into three parts that encompass the portraits, stories and essays about the South African people they encountered during their journey. As stated on the home page of the Bicycle Portraitswebsite, “Bicycle Portraits has turned into a portrait of a nation through the bicycles that they own and ride every day —revealing all manner of social, class, historical and cultural nuances never imagined.”

Unless you’ve been living in a deep, dark cave… You may have noticed that there is a lot of cool stuff going on out there. So, we thought it was high-time we started rounding up some of our faves each week. We call it the Osprey Round Up… Happy Friday!

The season took its sweet time to come in this year, but it’s finally here. Over the last few weeks, mountains have been dusted and in many cases, pounded, with snow and waterfalls have frozen into walls of ice. We’ve got great plans for the next few days — skiing, ice climbing, cycling and hiking our way through this first weekend of February. A lot of great shots of people out enjoying the elements have come our way, so we thought it would be best to put together a quick photo gallery of our favorites to really kick the weekend off right.

Last week, wildlife photographer Florian Schulz transported us to the Arctic through his collection of beautiful images. We didn’t even have to leave our seats at The Conservation Alliance breakfast at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market to catch the chill of polar wind, hear the cries of migrating birds and feel our hearts thump as we watched baby polar bears fleeing from danger.

Schulz is, John Sterling of the Conservation Alliance told us, “a truly gifted story teller who transports us to places we may never otherwise get to visit.”…

He didn’t just “wow” us with images or stories of braving harsh conditions (though he did tell some amazing ones about that). His message was simple, clear, and inspiring: “My connection to the environment is something very emotional; it comes from the heart for me especially now that I have become a dad,” said Schulz getting noticeably choked up when talking about the arrival of his son in December. “I hope we can keep this planet the way it is for a while longer…. Fighting for this is essential.”

On Schulz’s website, he says:

“For many years now there has been strong interest in expanding oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, both on land and offshore. Many have considered the Arctic landscape a barren wasteland or a flat, white nothingness.

I take these sentiments as a personal challenge to document an extremely remote and mostly unknown area of North America — for a public that otherwise might never see it. It’s true that at first glance some areas may seem desolate or barren. But those same areas may be teeming with life just days later, with tens of thousands of migrating caribou, or wolves or grizzlies.”

While many of us have never been to the Arctic, as these images show, it’s a special, wild place full of life — and worth protecting. Learn more about what you can do to help protect it by visiting alaskawild.org.

It’s December and the winter season is upon us in full force. This month is a time for remembering our favorite adventures of the the past few months and revving up for new ones in the coming year. And perhaps the most important part to celebrate: the friends who have accompanied us on our adventures…

Here at Osprey, sometimes our most favorite companions in the outdoors just happen to be our beloved four-legged friends. It’s not often that you will find us out and about without one of our furry friends in tow. Whether we’re out hiking or trail running on our local trail, or spending the day at our favorite climbing crag or rising early for some dawn patrol turns, we’re always grateful to have our trusty sidekicks along for the ride.

And we know you love your dogs too! We’ve seen some great photos come across our Facebook page of our fans with their dogs enjoying the great outdoors, so we’ve decided to close out this year by celebrating our furry friends with a photo contest!

Show us a photo of you and your dog on your favorite hike this year or your pup lazing in the sun at your local climbing spot. Show us your pet chasing you down singletrack on a mountain bike ride or maybe even your furry friend hitching a ride in your pack after a long backpacking trip! Whatever photo you submit, just make sure it includes a photo of your dog out and about with you on an adventure.

Post your favorite shots on our Facebook page for a chance to win some great prizes! This Friday, December 9, we’ll give away two packs: a Karve 6 Sidecountry pack and a Viper or Verve 10 Hydration pack. And next Friday, December 16, we’ll be giving away 2 Kode Ski packs to our final runners up and an Osprey travel set, including a Vector 22 carryon bag + a Talon 22 daypack to our grand prize winner to keep you and your furry friend traveling in style! And don’t worry, we’re throwing in some delicious and healthy Zukes doggy treats for every winner to share with their pup!

Please upload your photos between December 6 and 16. Feel free to submit more than once. We’ll choose a winner this Friday and the final winners next Friday, December 16. We’ll feature our favorite photos each week right here on the blog.

You can submit photos from anywhere in the world, but we will only ship prizes to addresses within the continental United States.

Early season ski at Blackcomb British Columbia. Cold smoke and no lift lines… Photo courtesy Andy Traslin.

Unless you’ve been living in a deep, dark cave… You may have noticed that there is a lot of cool stuff going on out there. So, we thought it was high-time we started rounding up some of our faves each week. We call it the Osprey Round-Up… Happy Friday!

The weather has turned in the U.S. We can see our breath in the mornings as we bike to work, we can see the snow-capped mountains taunting us throughout the work-week and we’re already packing up the car to get a headstart on our weekend adventures.

We’re always psyched to see folks getting out there and getting after it, exploring and reconnecting with wild places and their own wildness — and putting our packs through the ringer. We’ve been loving all of the photos our Facebook fans have posted over the last couple of weeks, so we decided to highlight a few of our favorites today to inspire us all to head for the hills this weekend.